Hototogisu naku ne narade wa yo no naka ni matsu koto mo naki waga mi narikeri - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ほととぎす鳴く音ならでは世の中に
待つこともなき我が身なりけり

Roma-ji: Hototogisu naku ne narade wa yo no naka ni matsu koto mo naki waga mi narikeri
English Translation: Save for the cuckoo
and the sound of its singing,
in all of this world
there is nothing left to wait for—
such, I find, is my life now.
Meaning: Apart from the cuckoo's song, there is nothing left in all this world for me to wait for; such, I have come to see, is what I am.
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 56

For one who no longer expects anything from the world, the cuckoo's call is the only thing left to await. The poem conveys the loneliness of a life withdrawn from society, its heart given only to the voices of the season.
The poem shares "wait" and "myself" with the preceding poem, 55. Where that poem sings of a heart that still waits, this one says the cuckoo is all there is to wait for, turning the same theme inside out.

First line, "the cuckoo," continues the theme from the preceding poem.
Second line means "if not for the sound," singling out the cuckoo's call alone.
Third line, "in all of this world," points to human society as a whole, contrasting with the limitation of the second line.
Fourth line, "nothing left to wait for," echoes "the heart that waits" in the preceding poem.
Fifth line ends with keri, expressing realization, and like the preceding poem closes on "myself."
Source: Shika Wakashu
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